Good morning everyone. Give praise to the one that created all things; the one who allows us another day. The message I’m sharing today I have shared before but it hit my spirit again because I believe that God is again testing my heart and for those of you that may be around me everyday, you know what I’m talking about. So get ready for this to stimulate your mind and heart.
Today’s Prayer
Father, many of us call ourselves Christians. Today, let us reflect on just how far we have strayed from following Your Word, as we read the words of one of Your disciples. William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army once prophesied that a time would come when we would see: (1) Christianity without Christ, (2) salvation without His blood, and (3) religion without the Holy Spirit. We need to ask, are too many ministers trying to “sanitize” the Bible so that it won’t offend anyone, making it compatible with society’s demands? Are too many professors in our universities and seminaries trying to explain the Bible by their own reasoning, leaving out the sovereignty of God and the supernatural spiritual dimension? Oh Lord, forgive us all for not reading Your Word for ourselves, and for not allowing the Holy Spirit to lead us into an understanding of Your truth. Save us, Lord, from our own arrogance. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
Let’s eat.
Tests of the Heart
Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commands. – Deuteronomy 8:2
Here’s a spiritual question for you; has God performed a heart test on you lately? There are times in our lives when God leads us into the desert in order to let us find out what is in our heart. These times can be very difficult and humbling. They can test our bravery like no other time. Desert times often mean we are living without those things we are normally accustomed to: water, food, limited supplies-and with few comforts. In modern terms, it may mean a different and uncomfortable environment. God is performing a very important work during these times. He wants to know if we can be obedient to Him in these times; or will we be obedient only when times are good? I have just recently come out of my desert place and I believe that I was proved by the Father.
He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your GOD disciplines you (Deuteronomy 8:3-5).
These desert times may mean experiencing new ways of provision from the Lord. Like manna from Heaven, it may mean seeing miracles we’ve never seen before. Like clothing that never wears out, it may mean seeing your normal capabilities expanded. Like walking hundreds of miles without pain, desert experiences provide new lessons and new experiences that only these times can teach us.
What desert experience has He brought into your life lately? Perhaps, like me, it is a lean time in your finances. Perhaps it is a new and uncomfortable environment. Whatever it is, when God decides to bring new disciplines into our lives by bringing us into the desert, do not fear the heat that is sure to come. He is walking beside you in order to test you and find out what is really in your heart. Ask for His grace to pass the test. He wants to bring all of His children into the Promised Land.
Quote of the Day
By the light of nature we see God as a God above us, by the light of the law we see Him as a God against us, but by the light of the gospel we see Him as Emmanuel, God with us.
Matthew Henry
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Rev. ELDER G E STERRETT
FOUNDER
GCKRS HELPING HAND FOUNDATION